A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
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Issue No: 844 Published: 25 Dec 2017
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM DAVID AND KATHY
May you enjoy the day, but celebrate the reason behind it.
It is a very different Christmss for us as, for the first time, we will not be celbrating with any of our kids, as they are all at opposite ends of the earth in New Zealand and Britain, and we are in the middle, almost on the equator, in fact. So we will celebrate with our Kenyan host family, and our church family here.
Christmas in Kenya/Africa is primarily a religious ce;lebration. A new experience for us.
Krismasi Njema
WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY? Part 24
THE EARLY 1900'S
At the beginning of the 20th century there was an expectation that a huge outpouring of the Holy Spirit was imminent. None more so than in.....
CHARLES FOX PARNHAM (1873-1929) AND THE BETHEL BIBLE COLLEGE
In 1900, the young evangelist Parnham (pictured), took a study tour around leading ministries concluding.....
I returned home fully convinced that while many had obtained real experience in sanctification and the anointing that abideth, there still remained a great outpouring of power for the Christians who were to close this age.
In October 1900, together with his Quaker wife, Sarah, and sister-in-law, Lilian Thistlethwaite, Parham opened Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, with 40 students (including dependents) who were prepared to sell what they had, give it away, and enter the school for study and prayer, there to obey and live the commandments of Jesus. The only text book was the Bible and the teacher, the Holy Spirit.
By late December, the students had completed their scheduled courses. Three days prior to the end of the year, Parnham left to preach in Kansas City after exhorting his students to study the Bible for evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in an individual. Upon his return on New Year's Eve he found....
To my astonishment they all had the same story, that while there were different things occurred when the Pentecostal blessing fell, that the indisputable proof on each occasion was that they spoke with other tongues.
About 11pm, in the Watchnight Service at the dawn of the of the 20th century, Agnes Ozman (1870-1937), a Holiness preacher who was a student at the school, asked Parnham to pray for her to receive Holy Spirit baptism in the manner they had studied. Parnham, hesitant at first, finally prayed, recalling.....
Humbly in the name of Jesus, I laid my hand upon her head and prayed. I had scarcely repeated three dozen sentences when a glory fell upon her, a halo seemed to surround her head and face, and she began speaking in the Chinese language and was unable to speak in English for three days.
This fanned spiritual desire in Parnham and the others there so, setting aside normal activities, they set up an upper room where they would pray for their own personal Pentecost. On January 3rd, Parnham went to preach at the Free Methodist Church in Topeka, where he predicted that the entire school would have received the Pentecostal experience while he was away.
Returning at 10pm, he climbed the stairs to see sheens of bright light coming from under the door. Going in, he was overwhelmed, for some were standing, others kneeling but all were singing "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" in perfect harmony, in tongues.
Parnham knelt and asked God for his personal Pentecost. God answered him saying that if he were willing to withstand the persecutions, hardships, trials, slander and scandal it would entail, the full blessing would be his. Replying yes.....
Right then there came a slight twist in my throat, a glory fell over me, and I began to worship God in the Swedish tongue, which later changed to other languages and continued so until the morning.
Meetings continued throughout the spring in nearby communities, but the results were marginal. However, groundwork was laid for Parnham's significant Pentecostal Revival in Zion City in 1906. By summer, the mansion they were renting was sold and the students dispersed. Sarah Parnham noted.....
Bethel Bible College was not intended to be a permanent school. The whole idea was a period of intensive training in the Word, prayer and evangelism.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BETHEL
Unlike many earlier leaders who had concluded that speaking in tongues was 1st century only, Parnham and the students at Bethel agreed with the conclusion of Edward Irving, 70 years earlier, that tongues was an objective criteria that the baptism of the Holy Spirit had been received. This understanding was foundational to the Pentecostal movement of the 20th century.
PARNHAM'S PERSECUTION
Parnham, as the Lord had promised him, suffered considerable persecution for his views. He was criticized as a racist, but in the context of his times, he was liberated, ministering to black, brown, white and red alike. Robert Mapes Anderson says.....
Even before the Los Angeles revival, Parham had tapped this new ethnically heterogeneous constituency in Houston, where he garnered black converts like Seymour, Miss Farrow and "Brother" Johnson, and some Mexican Americans. At the 1913 summer encampment of Parham's group in Baxter Springs, Kansas, "White people, colored people and Indians all took part in the meeting" and as Brother Parham remarked, "We had the Gospel in black and white and red all over." For years, Parham held integrated meetings throughout the lower Midwest.
William Seymour, the black leader of the Azusa Street Revival, was one of his students and ministered under his leadership. Parnham was also accused of homosexuality, which was never proven and his support of the British Israelites (believing Anglo Saxons to be the 10 lost tribes of Israel) was ridiculed.
However, as we will see, his influence in the foundation of the Pentecostal movement was huge.
(Continued next week)
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FROM THE WORD
THE WORDS OF JESUS
May we hear what the Lord is saying to us.....
Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
“It’s like a man who went away on a trip. He called in his servants and entrusted them with what he owned.
To one of them he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to another one, according to their different abilities. Then he left. Immediately the one with five talents went and invested them in a business, and made another five talents. In the same way the one with two talents made another two. But the man who’d received the one talent went off and dug a hole and hid his master’s money. A long time later the master of those servants returned, and settled accounts with them. The one with five talents came and presented the other five talents. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘You gave me five talents. Look, I’ve made a profit of five talents.’ His master said to him, ‘You’ve done well—you are a good, faithful servant. You have proved yourself trustworthy over small things, so now I’m placing you in charge over many things. Be happy because I’m really pleased with you! The one with two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘You gave me two talents. Look, I’ve made a profit of two talents.’ His master said to him, ‘You’ve done well—you are a good, faithful servant. You have proved trustworthy over small things, so now I’m placing you in charge over many things. Be happy because I’m really pleased with you!’ “Then the man with one talent came. “Master,’ he said, ‘I know that you’re a hard man. You reap where you didn’t sow, and you harvest crops that you didn’t plant. So since I was afraid of you I went and buried your talent in the ground. Look, you can have back what belongs to you.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you think I reap where I don’t sow, and harvest crops I didn’t plant, then you should have deposited my silver in the bank so that when I returned I could have had my money with interest. Take the talent away from him, and give it to the one with ten talents. For everyone who has will be given even more; and everyone who doesn’t have anything, even what they have will be taken away from them. Now throw this useless servant out into the darkness where there’ll be crying and gnashing of teeth.’
Warnings About the Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46)
Separating the Sheep from the Goats.
“But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his majestic throne. Everyone will be brought before him. He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He’ll place the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to the ones on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, and inherit the kingdom that’s been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then those who are right will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ The king will tell them, ‘I tell you the truth: whatever you did for one of these of least importance you did for me.’ “He’ll also say to those on his left, ‘Go away from me, you who are doomed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you didn’t give me anything to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t invite me in. I was naked and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you didn’t visit me.’ Then they will also answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t look after you?’ Then he will tell them, ‘I tell you the truth: whatever you didn’t do for one of these of least importance you didn’t do for me.’ They will go away into eternal condemnation, but those who are right will enter eternal life.”
(Continued next week)
You can download the complete 'Words of Jesus' here.
NOW FOR ALL THE DOORS AND WINDOWS
What a difference it makes too! Now we have a real building!
Unplanted (except for weeds)horticultural beds in the foregrond.
TIME FOR PLASTERING INSIDE
Getting nearer the finished job! Once the walls are plastered using a sand, cement and water mix, a final coat of hydrated lime, cement and water is put on to give great finish.
Kathy being shown by the plasterer how the beautiful straight edges are made with a 90 degree angle tool.
PROPOSED THEATRE BLOCK COMPLETED
The standard of work is great! Now the job is really coming together!
THE WEST MEETS AFRICA!
A meeting of the ways! Kathy and Moses sweeping. Kathy with a (small) Western broom while Moses uses a bunch of Cypress branches freshly picked off a nearby shelter belt!
Which is the most effective?
Moses broom is faster, Kathy's cleans more thoroughly.
PLASTERERS HEAD!
And body!
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Join the many who have downloaded the 'The Words of Jesus'. I am sure you will be blessed by it, as I have been.
One key element here is the setting out in chronological order (as far as it is possible to do so) our Lord's words drawn from all the Gospels, and the elimination of repetition between Gospels.
You may be surprised by the different perspective this presentation gives you both in understanding of His life and ministry, and in achieving a closer relationship with Him.
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
40. Took a Speed Logic course. Can immediately jump to a conclusion. A very popular course, his one!
41. Took a Speed Memory course. Able to remember everything before it happens. Life's now so dull!
42. Took a Speed Learning course. Now I know it all. Others have confirmed it! You already knew that!
CARTOONS FROM TOON FEVER
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
THIs WEEK: A REVELATION OF....... 3 KINGDOM AGES - THE KINGDOM'S REACH
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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***
*** Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. ***
90. Fundraising
There is the story of a pastor who got up one Sunday and announced to his congregation: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is, it's still out there in your pockets."
91. Wise Advice
While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humour, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy efficient vehicle. Runs on oats and grass - Caution: Do not step in exhaust."
92. Shakespeare
Q. What was William Shakespeare's favourite book of the bible?
A. The book of Acts
A DAVID MUSING
The world is round, not flat. How do I know? Because of the different time zones that cause confusion to all.
When in New Zealand, it was easy. For there we are the first country to see the sun - the International Dateline passes nearby. So everyone else was behind us. Australis 3-8 hours, depending where. Remember Australia is a continent. Then Britain, where some of our family live, was round 12 hours behind, depending on daylight saving in both countries. And America well, lets say, without getting too complicated 17 hours behind.
Coming to Kenya has made life in this regard more difficult! For now 2 of our sons are 10 hours ahead of us, and the other 2, 3 hours behind - at the moment!
Tests the brain! So now we know how the rest of the world feels.
Culture is like that too. Visiting is great, but you have to live in a place to really understand how it works.
Same with God too. You can know about Him, but unless you truly accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord in your life, you have no experience, but only theoretical knowledge.
My Christmas wish is that we may come into a greater relationship at this celebration time.
Until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.
His servant and yours
David Tait
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ABOUT US
WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God's people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ's return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord's direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our websitewwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz
Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "... so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole - and have a smile while doing it!
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